Advisory Consolidation Commission

[Record group 141]

Agency Function

This Commission has ceased to function.

It was established to ascertain the means in which the various County offices could be integrated into the newly-established City government under the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter. Its final report was delivered on 9 February 1953. Under the ordinance passed by Council and approved by the Mayor on 16 October 1953, the County offices of Coroner, Recorder of Deeds and Board of Inspectors of the Philadelphia County Prison were abolished, a new Board of Trustees of Philadelphia Prisons created, and the means of selecting a City Treasurer was changed from an elective to an appointive one.

Agency History

Established by Ordinance of April 2, 1952, and composed of eleven members appointed by the Mayor and the President of City Council "to study and report to Council a plan of merger and integration of former County functions into the structure of City government" in pursuance of the Act of Assembly of April 21, 1949, and the City Charter adopted in 1951. The Commission held public hearings on the subject May, June and December 1952 and January 1953. It presented its final report to City Council on 9 February 1953. Council acted upon this report by passing the City-County Consolidation Ordinance, approved by Mayor Joseph S. Clark on 16 October 1953.